Pedal Mods: Wah Inductors

[@jamesjzelaznyjr910]

Best demonstration of inductors by someone with intelligence I have seen yet. Not like 99% of the forums where nerds are talking about colors :) And people...STOP using Vintage to describe a sound !!!!! You mean old, then go and buy an old amp,pedal and guitar to sound vintage.....holy cow ! Vintage can mean anything for sound.

[@nocuh]

555mH was my overall favorite clean or driven, stock toroidal included. Seems to have the best balance & vocal sound of the lot. A most informative video, thanks.

[@KeniWilliams]

Kudos dude, This has still got to be one of the best inductor comparisons i've seen to date!

[@jaysjaysgarden398]

3:46 /stock 4:34 /460mh / 5:11 /555mh & last 6:00 640mh one can hit the time link and hear these directly back to back yes you can hear the wah get darker as the inductance goes up. Great review

[@Mark70609]

The stock inductor sounds horrible. The 460mH and 555mH are the ticket.

[@ScienceofLoud]

Certainly, there are many things that will affect the sound, but in the inductors it's mainly the inductance and the resistance in the coil. Inductance is a combination of number of turns and the strength and shape of the ferrite. Scientifically to make a comparison you need to leave all but one variable unchanged. Here it was difficult as number of turns directly affects the resistance. However I found that the resistance readings were so close over the range of mH that it wasn't a factor

[@strassercaster]

Hey great videos this video inspired me to install a 2 pole 5 throw Tatars switch. I now have 5 inductors to choose from its awesome. I have a tone tank 444mh a whipple 511mh halo a vintage tdk 52h a tone tank film can custom build 475mhonly 16 ohms and a eleca 636mh inductor. Your video inspired me thanks. I also like the true bypass led video however I have a v847 without a power jack so I installed a power jack with a capacitor and a diode And ran it exactly like yours. I think the best mods I did where the inductors on A rotary and I also put a 2 pole 3t on the .01 sweep cap added .015 and .02 that is really cool along with putting the parallel resistor on a 100k pot. Now I can dial in each inductor for q and EQ via the cap rotary switch

[@guitarpoetone1]

Hey what kind of wah did u put all those conductors in can u show us a pics from yer wah that sounds awesome dude

[@rexterrocks]

really interesting. I have been looking for ideas to try as I have old pedals that no longer work laying around. I have enough to build a Wah and I plan to use the best sounding components. I think I may have a go at winding my own too after watching you. Nice socks by the way

[@zdp-189]

Nice to know there's fellow engineer/physicist/chemist/biologist musicians out there that aren't afraid of some field work and equations lol ;) Awesome vid, really cool idea removing the inductor and attaching "testers" w alligator clips, brilliant yet simple!

[@antonr.2101]

Colin is a superb teacher. Breaks it down into very digestable information for my gorilla guitarist mind...

[@w.rustylane5650]

The toroidal inductor on the standard wah pedal sounded the best. I like the quackier sound. I do love yer mods on the pedals. Rusty in eastern Tennessee

[@gasolinechlorine]

640 was the fuckin' bomb. That was a sweet metal tone for a wah.

[@bigbasil1908]

The 460 mh seems to bring out some nice harmonics. The 550 seems to hit the spot. I might end up having maybe 3 inductors in the wah I'm going to build, with a 3 way dpdt switch to switch between them.

[@mrbsred1]

I preferred the ~555 mH in both the clean and distorted. It had more clarity and didn't sound as harsh as the 640 mH, or as weak as the stock conductor IMO. I am new to electronics and want to fix my crybaby, as I modded it before using a mod kit I brought off the net, but didn't really understood what I was doing and was never satisfied how it sounds. I have spent the last four hours learning about basic electronics and all the components on the crybaby. I understand the things I need to change now. With help from your videos and other resources I might actually fix it! Thanks. I'm gonna purchase a Fasel conductor, change the gain input resistor to 78K (currently 47k), Q-band range to 47k - your recommendation, or 100k - recommended elsewhere (currently 68k which could be the problem, as well as the conductor), and 4.7k for the Q-band mid range (currently 2.2). I have some other recommendations from someone else on youtube, but can't understand the electronic charts/diagram, so when I get my head around it I'll post my discoveries. Thanks again! :-)

[@GibsonLesPaul2273]

460 sounds the best clean 555 sounds best with crunch to my ears, tiny margins though. I heavily modified my wah, not sure what im doing though lol but it blows my other stock wah away. Instead of adding switches with resistors I used pots and its works ok but not sure why others aint doing it, why have a limited choice of tones when you can have the whole range?

[@ianaintsaying1625]

In my experience most of the stock Dunlop inductors and all of the new Fasel inductors are out of spec. The original wah schematic that I've seen specified a 500 to 520mh inductor. Most of the stock and Fasel inductors I've measured have all clocked in at 600 to 650mh. Some stock Dunlops have measured as high as 750mh. The only stock inductors that meet spec have been Dunlop's toroidal inductors like yours. I've run across 3 of these so far and they all measured between 500 and 505mh on my meter. IMO the wah pedals with these toroidal inductors have all sounded the best to my ears.

[@Davide97x]

my favourote was the 555'H! it was subtle but definitely gave that recognizable sound

[@pablo_costas]

awesome 640mH distorted sound

[@bigbasil1908]

Thanks for this. I have a vox jens reproduction circuitboard that I bought from a guy in Israel, and though he sells reproduction vintage inductors I'm going to have a go at making my own (with ferrite rings - I have some 20mm rings but the guy said he uses 18mm so I have ordered a couple of those from china). I've also ordered a vox/cry baby enclosure off of Ali to make my own wah pedal, though I recently bought a chinese made vox 847a which I am happy with the sound and that but want to see what I can do with a much more authentic very early wah circuit and components (the chinese one is traditional on the side of the circuit that you see when you open the pedal up, but unscrew it and on the other side is a bunch of surface mount components).

[@julianpeters37]

That was interesting and fun. I did here a bit more base at the inductance increased, like you said. I prefer the higher treble as cut through more. To much bass blends in to much. I am currently modding my vox wah and I have fultone inductor to put in it. See how it goes! Need more solder practice.

[@KimonFrousios]

Great vid, thanks! One thing is missing only: Can you compensate the lost treble and gained bass by rotating the pot to shift the sweep range? To my ears the 640MHz had a more aggressive attack that I like (sounds similar to the red Fasel in my wah of choice), but I'd definitely try to shift the pot a couple notches to get a bit less bass and more treble out of its range (as I did on mine).

[@influxxmedia]

These wah mod videos have been great Colin. Just what I was looking for. I too have a GCB95 from the 80s and was feeling there was more tonal possibilities I could get with some 'lectronic mods. Nice work. Just wondering where you learned all this. Did you study electrical engineering or similar, or is this stuff you came across in your guitar building exploits. Y'all got me all interested an stuff now. Cheers, keep up the good work

[@michelthegreatable]

i think the higher the inductance went, the more fat the tone got, but also the less smooth the sweep got. i think with the 640mH inductor, there was really only a distinct closed and open sound. nothing in between. just my thoughts

[@kalleankaa7536]

460 to 555mh sounded good. But i think the 460mh sounded the best for balance between lows and highs. What wha pot did you use here?

[@ALtheDoctorWho]

I remember the first time wah wahs came to America and It was the Italy Wahs I hear that the Values were Low Like somewhere in 375 mh This makes sense to me Because a lot of people are looking for that Quack Quack sound. I have to dig up my Greco wah and it has a Italy inductor in it. Any Who Thank you for posting this. Very informative. c]8-)

[@strassercaster]

i liked the 460 just bought a brand new old stok vox 450 inductor. if i want mor fuzz or gain i can turn it up my gain pedal going into the wah wah

[@SuburbanSundays]

Any ideas on where to source the bobbin kits to have a go at winding your own. Can't seem to find anything on the usual sites (aliexpress, rs-online, etc). Cheers

[@RedroomStudios]

fascinating stuff... you entertained me and educated me at the same time! p.s. - nice guitar socks!

[@bazjaddley6369]

Great video, well done, but ... I could hardly tell the difference, I think the middle one was most pleasing but I was hoping for much more obvious differences

[@bobbarcus8310]

You must of spent alot of time doing this..... Very cool..... and I like your voice too

[@paulcowart3174]

Have you any idea what pot is used in a Colosound Wah/Swell ?

[@gauravharchwani]

A heavy metal guy doing Electronics......WOW :)

[@mcswordfish]

Glasgow University does a degree in Electronics with Music. I don't know if Colin did this particular degree, but you'll not find a degree programme with a higher concentration on metalheads. In my year, most lads' hair was about shoulder length.

[@mcswordfish]

*of metalheads (stupid mobile keyboard)

[@gauravharchwani]

+Richard Keel WOW.....so if i take up that course will i get job in some music electronic industry ?

[@_-Skeptic-_]

what wire gauge did you use? more about winding the coils please? You can also change the Q and freq. sweep by changing some resistors or adding pots to get best results.

[@jacobbuxton932]

I liked the 460mH had a very noticeable mid range.

[@LukeSniper]

Hey Colin, I've got a CFH that has lost its low end response. There's a significant volume drop in the toe up position. Do you think the inductor may have been damaged? Perhaps the coil had some oxidation that eventually ate through, shortening the coil and thus reducing the inductance? From what you found in your experiment here, that seems most likely to me. Thoughts? Thanks.

[@nobnobnobnob]

All this time I thought it was a Potentiometer and gears on the knobs so you can adjust be stepping on to it. Is it the same in a volume pedal?

[@influxxmedia]

So to put it in sound mixing terms, the inductor is a band pass filter, and the higher the inductance the lower the filter frequency that is passed to the output signal. Wondering difference is between guitar and bass wah inductors, as I play both through my GCB95 and the effect on bass is not very pronounced. Thinking a switch mod that lets you toggle between a guitar and bass inductor might be cool (space permitting of course). Cheers

[@TonyLing]

My reading is that the inductor forms part of a BPF which then provides filtered negative feedback to the base of Q1 which is an inverting amplifier. I've not tried this yet, but I'm going to fit a miniature toggle switch which will add some R where R17 is fitted. As standard, this is a 0R link

[@PeterAlic]

Incuctance of coils in series adds up. So you can have two inductors in series (or more) for bass, and a switch to bypass all except one for guitar. In the same way, if you have one 100mH inductor in series with 450mH, you have 550 mH effective normally, and 450 mh when bypassing / short circuiting the 100 mH one.

[@bobbarcus8310]

Like the 555mH

[@ianleivas9113]

ok so im new, so is it possible to have several inductors, and have them toggled by a switch ya know what im saying?

[@greendaymosh]

Loved the video and my favourite was the 460mH

[@markfarner5778]

loved this one, really interesting, ... a poser now, ... do I make up a bank of inductors wired into my wah in series with a small footswitch to change them as I required? no doubt someone's going to come up with a commercial answer one day, thanks again for the vid Colin, always good to get something from you, cheers mate. :)

[@biglad1797]

i just got my first wah, a dunlop crybaby, when powered and activated it just has a bit of a gain boost does that mean my inductor is busted?

[@darwinsaye]

My Shin Ei Wah has some kind of a signal transformer in it instead of an inductor like those.

[@FutureRefrence]

Thumbs up for the licks and riffs

[@navinadv]

Would making your own inductors be nicer than buying expensive Fasels or Halo inductors?

[@soulpedal]

You can do spools of wire? How much?

[@areyouavinalaff]

why you using that pedal at 4:25 ? no way it can reasonably compare stock inductor to what's in your modded wah... cos your modded wah is modded.

[@PrinceWesterburg]

555mH was my fave!

[@russellesimonetta3835]

You should go to MOD kits and do a hand wired wah! That way you can put two different inductors and switch between the two or use both. Or down load the schematic and layout and gut that pcb based ele tronics.

[@5urg3x]

I never really was interested in wah pedals until I started tinkering around with a MIDI expression pedal, I tried using it as a wah and I found that there are very different ways to get it to sound, and a lot of these don’t actually sound very good. You really have to set up the curve and the wah itself to be in a “sweet spot” otherwise it can sound very lame, almost juicy, just way too bright.

[@marccoyle999]

This raises the question of-the last time I had my Hendrix wah put in for repair after I got it back it didn't sound as fat as I had it before especially when doing solos the Q In it sounds all top and no depth-frustrating :-(

[@Neonleeroy]

Possibly just the pot and toothed bar set differently....there can be as much as a whole revolution of the pot (spare) if it's set too bassy or trebly...just adjusted a couple myself...tho if they used a new inductor or q capacitor that too could explain it...the Hendrix had a higher capacitor value than standard crybaby.

[@sarahwaters1103]

whats a good stock dunlop that can sound like appetite for destruction!

[@zafreth]

How do you Modelo the inductors

[@Marciukasb]

Awesome video! Very informative :) I was wondering what is the biggset inductance I can use? I made an inductor myself and it turned out to be 3H. Can I use it or should I unwind atleast half of it? :D

[@ScienceofLoud]

I found that after about 650mH the sound became too dark to be useful. Try it out and see how it sounds, but I think you really want to be sub 1H

[@Quimerateck]

the hardest thing to find is a 1.5H inductor (in a small size)

[@JentySteP]

hi colin i have sent you a PM i hate to be a arse but i would love to know if you got it Thanks

[@domzig138]

How can i find out what kind of inductor is in my cry baby

[@Neonleeroy]

Unscrew the feet and look inside, between the input and output jacks

[@esdrassantos2225]

Fasel? Red?

[@sebastianalcala9473]

i wanna build a wah wah pedal but, i can't find a electric circuit for do it.... somebody here can help me with that?

[@mattevilspawn]

Google "tonepad", go to their site, click on the "fx projects" link, then scroll down to "wah wah". Tonepad is a great community/resource for DIY pedal builds.

[@McLOVIN.....]

My crybaby gcb95 has red fasel

[@Earlvis]

Crocodile clips eh? Very cool 😎

[@delcasher1553]

Spot on! my proto type was never released by Vox that I used to make the first wah demo record Feb 1967 for Vox

[@guitarpoetone1]

Thanks 4 the vid great stuff ..

[@rikardocarvalho]

Do socks also impact on wah inductors. I guess so..... because 95% of wah reviews.. have no shoes. Maybe thats the problem of my wah

[@johnb4024]

They must be tone-socks

[@DasOmen02]

I personally liked the ~555MH Inductor

[@jaysjaysgarden398]

Hey man good vid, Im looking for some waka wakas lmao, Thanks I really didn't hear the differences though youtube

[@5urg3x]

2:40 wow that’s quite a large inductor mate 😪

[@mirchevsky317]

Microhenry or millihenry

[@qddk9545]

milliHenry.

[@ppa6964]

555 the best one

[@hoosierdaddy2308]

I liked the 555 ~!

[@thrashmastertim]

Could you compare some of the signature cry babys like the Joe Bonamassa, Kirk Hammett and Zakk Wylde? Great videos very informative thank you

[@miguelpessanha]

Tim Langdon ZW one is the red fasel and 0.022 feedback cap instead of 0.01 which essentially brings the range down

[@thrashmastertim]

Thanks, it growls.😎

[@miguelpessanha]

elkit.web.id/wp-content/uploads/3wah_schematics.jpg

[@BioJero]

nice socks

[@rtopia]

and another +1 for the socks...

[@WHCAudio]

You rolled a 555 but you didn't roll a 666? Missed opportunity.

[@gstube1]

The 640 for me was better 😊

[@timfowlie3138]

I completely scrapped the insides of my Wah and replaced it with my own homemade circuit and I designed it without an inductor

[@Mmccfp]

Why so many wah reviewers use socks ? Its a fetiche ?

[@Texturas75]

Maybe they don't wanna add unnecessary "dirt" to their pedals at home.

[@CC-fi3pp]

I only use fancy socks, it does something to the tone that I can't explain.

[@landonespeche7871]

oh... nooo..i love those socks...